contractions and cauliflower

This was quite the weekend for the bean (and his parents).

We all started out well enough on Saturday -- it was a beautiful day in Cleveland, so Drew and I took a drive to a shopping center about 45 minutes away where they were having a big maternity sale and just enjoyed being out and about. Then when we got home I made a batch of pumpkin cookies (yum, yum, yum) and watched a few new shows on the DVR (yay, fall tv!).

Then came Sunday...

I woke up feeling totally fine, got ready for church, and was just finishing my breakfast when the sharp pain shot across my belly and had me doubled over. This was very different from the round ligament pain and achiness I've felt every day, so I was a little concerned.

Drew and I went to church anyway, hoping that it would go away and it did for the most part. However, when I got home and started doing some things around the house it came back with a vengence. At this point, I called my Mom for advice and she recommended calling the doctor.

I had been hesitating on doing this so far because I really don't want to be one of those high-maintance pregnant women who rush to the hospital for every little thing. When I talked to the doctor on call she convinced me that it was worth getting checked out, so over to the hospital we went.

If you ever have to do this, let me give you some advice: eat lunch first.

They hooked me up to the fetal monitor for a couple hours and ran a bunch of tests for infections. All of the lab work came back negative (yay!) and my cervix is closed and stable, so despite the contractions that the monitor picked up they decided it was safe to send me home.

We came home with strict instructions to lay down for the rest of the day and come back if things flaired up again. So far, so good.

Drew was amazing at taking care of me and the bean last night. I know he was really worried, but kept his cool -- I appreciate his calm demeanor through the whole ordeal.

Hopefully this will be our last trip into L&D until our real D-Day!

In other news...the bean is a cauliflower!

He weighs about 2 lbs and is 14.5 inches long. The baby is still developing his lungs, but could survive (with some medical help) if he was born soon. He also has more taste buds now than he'll have during the rest of his life, so I'm suppose to eat a wide variety of foods to give him a little taste of everything.

Keep growing bean and just stay in there, for goodness sake. You scared us enough for 1 weekend, relax and enjoy the comfy home I'm trying to provide. Only 89 more days before we meet you -- I can wait, if you can.